German riders stole the show on the opening day of the Rolex FEI World Cup™ 2010/2011 Jumping Final in Leipzig (GER) today as Marco Kutscher pipped defending champion Marcus Ehning for pole position and Christian Ahlmann finished third.
Throughout the winter months the Germans have been in formidable form, and today they continued to display their colossal strength with polished performances that left the rest trailing in their wake.
Kutscher refused to be intimidated by his early draw to set the target when fifth to go in this speed competition with Cash. And using the exceptionally long stride of his 15 year old gelding to full advantage, he produced a tour of the 13-fence track that was little short of perfection and could not be bettered. He said afterwards however that he didn’t think his time of 63.55 seconds would be quick enough to take the win, “but I’m very happy, my horse went really well today” he pointed out.
TESTED ABILITY
Poles fell all around Frank Rothenberger’s course, which tested rider’s ability to keep a rhythm while taking tight turns to ensure a strong finishing spot in this first of the three deciding competitions. There was a choice of two verticals at fence three, with the left-hand and shorter option asking for accurate cornering skills ahead of fence four, but it was the two consecutive doubles at fences seven and eight that proved the undoing of many, including Ireland’s Denis Lynch who was eliminated for a fall after missing his stride to the second element of the former. This began with a black vertical which he cleared with Abbervail van het Dingeshof, but things went wrong at the second element which was a white-painted drunken oxer, and Lynch was unseated to go out of contention.
A good roll-back to fence nine was a vital component of a quick round, but Australia’s Edwina Alexander had already met this one all wrong before coming to grief at the very last fence. Initially it was unclear whether she had crossed the finish line before hitting the dirt when Cevo Socrates clambered through this oxer, but she eventually joined Lynch on the list of eliminations.
BLAZED HOME
Ahlmann followed Kutscher into the ring with the stallion Taloubet Z with which he won the opening two legs of the Western European League series at Oslo (NOR) and Helsinki (FIN) and blazed home in 64.03 seconds to slot into the runner-up spot. But he was edged down to third by Ehning whose tour of the track with the mare Sabrina was measured by the centimetre to stop the clock in 63.79 seconds.
The Netherlands’ Gerco Schroder, who had the unenviable task of being pathfinder around the course, slotted into fourth with a great round from Eurocommerce New Orleans while American veteran Margie Engle steered her grey gelding, Indigo, into fifth. New Zealand’s Katie McVean produced a sparkling round to take sixth with the 10 year old Delphi and looks likely to make a big impression this week.
Ahead of tomorrow’s second leg, the leading 10 riders are an impressive bunch including 2000 Olympic gold medallist Jeroen Dubbeldam (BMC van Grunsven Simon) in seventh, America’s Ashlee Bond with the spectacular chestnut Cadett 7 in eighth and Frenchman Kevin Staut (Silvana de Hus), who remains at the top of the Rolex Rankings, in ninth.
Single mistakes hampered many of the other favourites, including America’s Richard Spooner (Cristallo), Sweden’s Rolf-Goran Bengtsson (Casall La Silla) and Germany’s Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum who looked set for a clear from the great 18 year old Shutterfly until falling foul of the water-tray oxer at fence 11 after taking the risky inside right-hand turn to this one. Reigning Olympic champion, Canada’s Eric Lamaze, meanwhile was one of only three riders to lower the oxer at fence five, and this was enough to pin him back into 17th place.
CONTINUE WITH CASH
“I’m planning to continue with Cash after this good result”, said Kutscher after his victory today. “I thought maybe I might use my other horse Allerdings tomorrow, but instead I’m going to rely on the experience of Cash”, said the rider who will celebrate his 36th birthday next Monday and who placed eighth with this same horse at the finals in Las Vegas, USA in both 2005 and 2007. This is a man with plenty of experience himself, having secured individual bronze at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, and having been crowned individual European Champion in 2005.
He will have to be at the top of his game to keep fellow-countryman Ehning at bay however. “I’ve made a very good start with Sabrina and I just hope it will continue” said the defending champion who is clearly feeling full of confidence.
The three-time champion recalled that he finished 10th on the first day of last year’s Rolex FEI World Cup™ Jumping final in Geneva, “and in Kuala Lumpur (2006) I won the first day” Ehning pointed out.
He and his German counterparts now have the bit between their teeth and will not be easily removed from the top of the leaderboard, but tomorrow is another day, and course designer Rothenberger pointed out ominously that his track was “maybe slightly too small today – but tomorrow will be bigger, much bigger for sure!”.
FACTS AND FIGURES
• 43 riders from 21 nations.
• 10 from USA, 6 from Germany, 3 from The Netherlands, 2 from Ireland, France, Estonia, Brazil and Sweden, 1 from Australia, New Zealand, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Japan, Portugal, Venezuela, Spain, Russia, Mexico, Colombia, Canada and Syria.
• The first three finishers today were all from the host nation of Germany.
• Oldest horses in this competition were both 18 years old and ridden by German riders – the bay mare Lucie (Lars Nieberg) and the dark bay gelding Shutterfly (Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum).
• The youngest horses were 10 year olds – Ballade van het Indihof (Brianne Goutal) USA, Rocketman 2 (Vladimir Beletsky) RUS, Rothchild (McLain Ward) USA, Ulrike (Gunnar Klettenberg) EST, Napoli du Ry (Simon Delestre) FRA, Utopia (John Perez) COL, Delphi (Katie McVean) NZL, Uwwalon (Michelle Spadone) USA, Chico Z (Yuri Mansur Guerios) BRA.
• During the draw for the first round of the Rolex FEI World Cup™ Jumping final which was staged at the Town Hall in Leipzig on Wednesday evening, 43 year old Estonian rider, Gunnar Klettenberg, was honoured for lining out in 100 FEI World Cup™ Jumping competitions during his career.
• The oldest rider in today’s competition was 53 year old American Margie Engle.
• The youngest rider was Syria’s Ahmad Saber Hamcho who turned 18 last November.
• The judges for today’s competition were Germany’s Joachim Geilfus (President), America’s Linda Allen and Italy’s Frances Triulzi.
• Course designer was Frank Kempermann.
• Defending champions is three-time winner Marcus Ehning from Germany.
• Two riders were eliminated for falls – Ireland’s Denis Lynch (Abbervail van het Dingeshof) and Australia’s Edwina Alexander (Cevo Socrates).
QUOTES
Frank Rothenberger, course designer, talking about the footing in the arena “two days ago it was a little deep but a lot of work went into it yesterday and again last night and today it was just about perfect. The 14 clear rounds proved that”.
Marcus Ehning, when asked what it will be like when Sandro Boy is retired during the show on Saturday “it will be emotional for sure”.
Christian Ahlmann, discussing today’s track – “it was a really nice course, not too big but the turns were really sharp. I watched Marco and he made it look easy so I thought I would try to do exactly the same thing – I just didn’t do it 100 per cent but I almost got it!”
More from Horse Sport:
